The Devil's Thirteen
by The Great Wade Wilson
Summary: Death and destruction lie in wake as the world burns in the uprising of the dead. With their numbers growing more and more everyday, is this the end of civilization as we speak? Follow the exploits of a young man and his rag-tag team of twelve other individuals. Will they only fight for their survival or will they stumble upon something greater than what they expected? OC Story
1. Prologue: Tale of the Devil's Thirteen

Prologue

_Tale of the Devil's Thirteen_

* * *

It is a beautiful winter afternoon the year 2030 and things are peaceful in the small community of a rural area. The sky is blue, the grass is green, and a calm wind blew through air as two teenagers played with each other in a field behind a nearby house.

"Come on Katherine keep up! If you keep falling behind I'll have to leave you," joked a boy with short dark brown hair boy as he grinned at the girl behind him.

Said girl caught up to the boy, face red and panting lightly, "You're a jerk you know that Leon? I don't even see how we're brother and sister." Katherine said with a pout.

Leon shrugged his shoulders at this. "Meh, we just got different personalities from our parents is all." Leon turned his gaze back to the house with curiosity. "You know, Dad has been acting weird today. It's like he's anxious about something."

Katherine nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah…Mom is the same way." The girl mumbled as she fiddled with her long raven black hair. "I think there is something that they aren't telling us. D…Do you think we should ask them about it?"

"I don't know…" Leon grimaced. "I'm almost scared to ask. They usually tell us the important things."

Katherine copied her brother's expression. "Come on let's go back to the house. Maybe they were just having a bad morning today?"

"I hope so."

With that said, the two began their walk back to the house. Leon kept his look of curiosity on as he walked beside his sister. Katherine, being the smarter of the two siblings, was deep in thought as she tried to think of possible ideas as to what was going on. The two walked into the gated part of their backyard and quickly saw their dad, asleep in his hammock with his favorite hat covering his face. The teens chuckled at the sight of this and decided to let their father continue his slumber, nestled under the shade of the two trees.

"Dad sure loves his naps doesn't he?" said Leon as he stepped up on the back porch.

Katherine gave a small giggle, "You would think that the man would have boundless energy with as much as he sleeps. No wonder Mom has to keep an eye on him."

"True." The brunette gave a small nod in agreement as the two entered the house, "Anyway, where is Mom actually? I haven't seen her since this morning."

Katherine pointed to the note on the kitchen table. Leon picked it up and began reading it out-loud.

"_Gone to the store. I need you to mow the lawn, water the plants, and make sure you bring down the box of clothes from the attic and put them in the living room. So help me if I find you napping again…_"

Leon turned around and looked through the window and stared at his dad with an eyebrow raised.

Katherine just shook her head and sighed. "Dad needs to learn to not nap when Mom has chores for him." She looked outside and saw that the yard had actually mowed and from the outstretched water hose, he had watered the plants too. "Huh, well what do you know? He actually did the work this time!" Katherine said in mock surprise.

That was short lived as Leon spoke up, "Uh, I'd take that back," Leon began as he pointed into the living room. "I see no box of clothes in here."

"Oh Dad…" The raven haired teen shook her head again.

Leon sighed and walked toward the stairs. "Come on, let's help Dad out, He's probably still stressed from this morning. Plus, we won't have to hear those two go at it tonight if we do this!" He finished with a smile.

Katherine gave one of her own back and the two headed up the stairs to the second floor hallway. Once up there, Leon went and pulled on the cord in the middle of the hall ceiling, causing a staircase to the attic to come down. Leon climbed up first, followed by his sister.

Once the pair was up there, they looked around at all the old boxes and furniture that was there in the spacious attic. Able to stand at full height, the two began to look for the box of clothes that their mother had requested. The pair searched high and low for the elusive box for the next hour, finding only boxes of old childhood toys, precious china ware, and other knick knacks in various boxes and trunks. The two met back in the middle of the area, covered in sweat and dust.

"How in the world did Mom and Dad get all this stuff up here? I feel like we're trapped in junk city!" Leon whined as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"At least they marked all the boxes up here. If they didn't do that we would be screwed!" Katherine said as she wiped dust off of her purple shirt.

"Yeah you're right sis. I just wish that we knew where the clothes were at! We've been up here for a long time and we still haven't seen hide nor hair of this box!"

Katherine sighed, "Well there is one area we haven't checked. All the way in the back….I don't want to go back there."

Leon gave a childlike smile, "What's wrong? Scared of the dark back there…..or is it about the creepy, crawly **spiders** back there?

Hearing that word sent shivers up Katherine's spine. She blushed heavily and started to stutter. "N…N..No I'm not! I'm not s..scared of them!"

Leon gave a deadpan expression and raised his eyebrow, "Yeah and cows go 'Quack'."

This caused Katherine to get a little steamed at Leon, whom laughed at her. He turned around and ushered for her to follow. Katherine sighed and followed behind, keeping a sharp eye out for those eight legged freaks.

Leon cleared a path through the boxes and eventually made their way to the back wall where the last of the boxes were stacked. The two began to look through them and soon Leon called out to his sister.

"I found the box! We can ge- AAAHHHHH! "

Leon was cut abruptly when his right leg suddenly fell through the flooring he was standing on. His sister quickly rushed over to his side and tried to pull Leon's leg out of the hole. Regaining his composure, Leon grabbed his leg along with Katherine and pulled with all his might, and with an audible "**Pop**" the wood around his leg broke and freed his leg, causing Leon to fall on his butt, clutching his bruised leg.

"Are you ok?!" Katherine gasped as she got on her knees next to her brother.

"Yeah..I'm fine, but why did the floor break?"

Leon scooted over to the hole and looked down the whole and saw something unexpected. "Hey Katherine, there's something down in there!" Leon said as he pointed down the hole.

Katherine got up and went over to Leon and looked down the hole. There was indeed something down there, but she couldn't tell what it was. "What is it?"

Leon stuck his arm in the hole and grabbed at the object. "I…think it's some kind of….trunk? I can feel a keyhole on it so it must be."

This made Katherine very curious. Why would there be a box under the floor board? She looked around the hole and noticed that the wood around the hole was a slightly different color than the wood near the entrance. "Leon look, there's something different about the floor here."

Leon rose up and did as his sister said.

She was right, it was different! Popping into his mind, Leon got a wild idea. "Hmm…just maybe." The boy mumbled to himself as he gazed hard at the floor, deducing how to go through with his idea. He went back the hole and grasped the wood, pulling up on it. Surprisingly the small area of wood came up and revealed a tiny alcove where a large black storage trunk lied. This garnered a small grin from the boy as he put the piece of the floor aside.

Leon kneeled down in front of the small alcove and retrieved the trunk, noting that the contents inside were very heavy. Katherine stood beside her brother with curiosity in her eyes as she tilted her side to side, her way of solving a problem. The brunette fiddled with the lock on the front before giving a dejected sigh. "Looks like we can't open this without having the key. If we tried to force this open we'd only damage the contents inside, and we don't want that do we sis?"

Katherine gave a single nod as she nibbled on her thumb. "_I don't like secrets…_" She gave one more tilt of her head before she turned around and started walking back to the entrance. "Bring trunk with you when you come down. Dad has some explaining to do."

Leon tried to argue with his sister, but the words died in his throat, leaving him to give another sigh as he stood up and dusted himself off. There was no reasoning with his sister when she was determined to know something. The brunette leaned down and struggled to pick up the trunk a second time. "_This is going to suck_." The teen groaned as he began the slow process of moving the trunk.

**Outside  
**

Hat still covering his face, the older gentleman was still off in dreamland, completely oblivious to the people that had gathered around at his side. They whispered to each other before one of them took a step forward and firmly planted his foot into the slumbering man's side, sending him tumbling to the ground, effectively waking him in a, somewhat, brutish manner.

"Whozza….Wuzz goin on?!" The man slurred, startled and barely awake, as he turned up to face his aggressors.

The others, in turn, gave a hearty laugh as they watched the man flail around. Finally regaining his bearings, the disturbed man looked up and realized who had just ruined his nap. "Really guys? Do we need to go through this every time that you come over and I'm taking a nap?" The man said as he scratched his salt and pepper coloured facial stubble.

"Yes. Yes we do." said a man with glasses.

"You all are just a bunch of assholes. You know that?" The man said as he put his straw fedora back on his head.

"You wouldn't have us any other way." An orange haired man said, grinning while sticking his hands in the pockets of his olive drab coat.

This garnered a small chuckle from the hatted man as he extended his arm out to the last man in the group, a black haired man with a scar running down over his right eye. "You know it's getting harder and harder for you to get up. Do we need to hire a full time nurse for you 'Old Man'?" said the black haired man.

"Shuddap Chris. I'm fine, you guys just surprised me is all," said the hatted man, flustered. He didn't want to admit it, but his age had finally started to really hit him these past couple of days. Your body can only handle so much when it's in its late thirties. "_16 years….has it really been that long? I feel like it's just been a short period of time since my younger days._" The man shook his head and grinned to his old friends. "So what brings you fellows around here? Did you just want to see this picture of perfection?" The hatted man struck a pose as the others held back a chuckle at his antics.

"That's hardly true my friend. I'm actually surprised that you even still have a wife, let alone you procreating with her!" The man with glasses sassed. But as quickly as the man smiled, it was replaced with a look of seriousness as he tucked his arms in his black winter coat. "You do know what today is don't you?"

The hatted man turned his head to the sky, his eyes dulling over at past memories. "Y-Yeah….I do." The man drew a heavy sigh as he ran his head through his brown hair. "Come on. Let's…talk about this inside. The wife and kids shouldn't be inside right now."

The group of gentlemen in front of him gave a simultaneous nod and followed him inside the house.

**Inside  
**

The hatted man walked into his rather spacious living room and looked around at its familiar contents. There was a large, black leather couch that sat toward the back of the room, to the right was a black leather recliner that faced the front door, on the opposite side sat a small red loveseat, and in the middle of the gathering was a well-worn coffee table. The hatted man ushered the group inside. When the group of men chose their seats the hatted man took his place in his recliner, sitting at the edge of the cushion. The man felt his leg nervously tapping, finally realizing why he had been feeling anxious this past week. He mentally kicked himself for not paying attention.

"_It really is __**that**__ day isn't it?_" The man felt a shiver go up his spine as old memories presented themselves again. He looked up at his old pals and spoke softly. "I..don't really know where to begin with this. It's bee-"

"DAD!" The man's blood ran cold as he heard his daughter shout at him from the stairs. "You have some explaining to do!" The girl said with her foot tapping the ground.

"Uh-oh looks like someone's busted!" The orange haired man joked, flashing a childish grin.

The hatted man swiftly got up and went over to his daughter. "What is it honey? Wait, scratch that. What are you even doing here and where is your brother?" The man said in a hushed voice.

Katherine said nothing and grabbed her father's hand and led him down the hallway to where her brother was, standing beside the black trunk in front of the attic entrance. The hatted man's heart stopped for a second as he gazed at the aged trunk.

"Dad! Leon and I found this trunk upstairs hidden under a floorboard that Leon fell through. You know I don't like shady things and a black trunk under a floorboard doesn't exactly scream 'Normal'. Now I want some answers!" Katherine finished, the fire in her eyes evident.

The man's hand slipped from his daughter's grasp as he neared the old trunk. His heart raced as he put his hands on the top of the trunk, feeling the age and memories that came along with it. The two siblings saw this and kept their mouths shut as their dad gazed at the trunk with pain and grief showing in his eyes.

With a heavy breath the man lifted the trunk up and turned around to his children. "_There is no avoiding this any longer huh?_" The man gave another sigh and put on a smile for his children, even if it was a sad one. "There's..uh…something that I need to show you two. I was waiting till you were a bit older, but since you brought this up…" The man turned his gazed back down at the trunk for a second before looking back at his children, "There's something that me and your mother haven't told you. Follow me into the living room." With heavy footsteps the man made his way back to the entrance to the living room. The group of men saw their old friend come through that hall entrance and their hearts raced as they all saw the infamous trunk.

The man laid the trunk on top of the coffee table and slowly walked back to his bedroom. Kneeling in front of the small hope chest that lied in front of the king sized bed, the hatted man lifted the top and slid his hand across the back of the top, feeling for the spot on the corner. Finding what he was feeling for, the man slid his finger behind the faux lid bottom and pulled it back, revealing small metal key that was taped in the middle. The man slid the key out from its binding and took a deep breath, "_2 years…I thought I could put it all behind me. Somehow forget….but it doesn't work like that huh?" _

The man drew a sigh as he turned around and went back down the hall to the expectant group of people. The hatted man ran his hand across the top of the trunk one more time before inserting the key. The man turned his gaze up and met the eyes of his long-time friend, the man with glasses walked forward and put a hand in his friend's should, giving him a reassuring nod. The man turned back down to the trunk, and with a quick turn of the wrist an audible "**Click**" was heard, causing the top to come free and reveal the memories that were held within it.

The men gathered in front of the chest and began pulling out various objects that had meaning to them. The man with glasses pulled out a 7 inch knife that had seen better days. The metal had been warped and chipped and the mirror sheen that it once had had been replaced with rust and black stains, the handle had been noticeably replaced and even then it still showed damage.

The orange haired man was up next, pulling out a small hand held attaché case and a pair of small, dirty, silver dog tags. He gazed at the dog tags, feeling the small dents and scratches that were spread across the tiny surface that bared his name, before laying it down on the table to focus his attention to the case. Flipping the top, the man pulled out an old grenade casing, along with various vials that had been labeled with element names and what they corresponded to.

After him was the black haired man, grabbing an old dilapidated sawed off shotgun from the trunk. The barrel, as short as it was, was bent at an awkward angle and the muzzle was clamped shut. Rubbing his hand down the stock of the barrel, the scarred man felt the small carvings that were there. He turned away and let the hatted man have his turn.

Being the last of the group, the hatted man pulled out a majority of the items within the trunk. With steeled eyes, the man began to lay out the last of the mementos Various newspaper clippings and sheets of paper that contained crude drawings of what seemed like maps. The man then pulled out two journals, one green and the other white, a huge brown binder, and a small, thick, black book. The man stopped for a moment and gazed hard into the trunk at what was left, before he picked them up.

They were his items, more specifically; they were an old leather jacket, an old and dirty Colt Python, and the most important to him, a picture.

The man put the picture in his chest pocket for the moment and went on to the other items as the other men and his children stared at him. The man began with the cloth as he reached for the faded red leather jacket that was there. Holding it out at arm's length, the man analyzed his old jacket. It had looked like it had gone to hell and back. There were various tears and scratches on it, but there were two holes that held a deep rooted memory within the man. They were perfectly round holes where the man's right shoulder and his abdomen would have been. The man laid the jacket back down on the table and shook his head, getting the coming memory out of his head before he could become lost in it. Continuing on with his analyses, the man grabbed the revolver and gingerly held it in his hands, feeling the weight of his old time companion. The man flipped the chamber out and ran his thumb along the cylinders, taking special notice of the lone spent bullet casing still inside. The man flipped the chamber back and laid the gun on top of the jacket before looking at his children, who had been completely dumbfounded by the items that had been retrieved.

The hatted man backed back down into his chair and pulled out the photo he had been saving for last. He waved for his children to come over as he gazed hard at the photo, almost becoming immersed in it.

The man ran his hand over the old photo before handing it to the siblings. "Here, I want you to look at that picture. It…..it means a lot to everyone here but, especially me."

The teens complied with their father and turned down to the photo in their hands, surprise written on their face as they saw who was there. In the picture was a group of thirteen people they didn't know most of the people in this photo but, in the middle of the picture was a very familiar group of people. A young man with a spunky looking woman hanging around his neck, a huge smile plastered on both of their faces as the young man held up a peace sign at the camera. Around the two were four young men; one with glasses, who held an easy expression on his face; one with orange hair, playing with a small lighter in his hand; one with black hair, who had a devilish smile on his face; and finally a young man with short brown hair, who towered above the others with a stupid grin on his face.

The brother and sister stood silently as their old man gave them a gentle smile. "I'm pretty sure you can tell who is in the front." The man said as he scratched his stubble. "It's me, your mother, and your Uncles Will, Gio, Chris, and Jake." The man pointed each out as he said their names.

The siblings nodded as they took a seat on the couch next to their father. Leon was the first to break the silence between the family members, "What's with this picture Dad and why haven't we seen all this stuff before?" Leon said, still getting his head around all the cool things that were in the trunk.

"Well…" The man was clearly uncomfortable. "Your mother and I wanted to wait till you were old enough to understand before we told you the truth. You know the story we gave you about how we first met?" The siblings gave a nod. "Well that wasn't….entirely true."

If their faces hadn't shown their curiosity, they were now as they both simultaneously cocked their heads to the side. "Looks like I have some explaining to do," The man took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well to begin, I'm sure you have heard about the catastrophic event that took place years ago, one so big that it nearly led to the destruction of the human race." The siblings nodded their heads simultaneously. "Then you've also heard the stories of how a group of people fought against this ultimate threat and practically saved the world from annihilation." The man could see the cogs beginning to turn in their heads. "Well kids…that photo…was taken on December 25th, 16 years ago. The day that everything ended and the world could attempt to go back to normal." The man seemed to trail off on that last sentence.

The imaginary light bulb went off in the siblings' minds as they stared at their dad with wonder. "Wait, so that means..!" Katherine began as she stared back down at the photo and back to her father, making the connection.

"Yes. You are correct. That is a photo of me and the twelve others that journeyed through hell and back together. Today is the day that everything went to hell and the world was plunged into horror."

The teens' eyes went wide as the other men gathered next to their father. "These brave men and women were part of the legendary Devil's Thirteen, and I, Sam Howard, was their leader." The man leaned forward and drew a heavy breath.

"Now, listen to the tale of the Devil's Thirteen."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Holy Ass Crackers Batman! I finally did it! I have breathed life back into my creation! Now hopefully I can keep it this way. I don't have anything to say besides I'm a sorry sack of crap for taking this long to do this story, but you of all people should know how things go sometimes….

ANYWAY! I hope you guys enjoyed a taste of what's to come. A small review would be greatly appreciated and help nourish what's left of my small, dying ego.

Well, till next time people.

WW


	2. Entering Nightmares

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own any of the things that are in this story. Products. Yes. Company itself. No. I do own my OCs though.**

**Speech:**

Plain – Normal speech

_Italics –_ Thoughts, Reading objects: (I.E. Notes, Newspapers, Instructions, ect.)

**Bold **– Emphasis, Yelling, Dialogue from: (Radios, Intercoms, Computers, ect.)

* * *

Chapter 1

_Entering Nightmares  
_

**Mississippi. 12:35 P.M. November 2****nd,****2012**

"Damn its cold," hissed a brown haired teen as he rubbed his arms to get some type of warmth in them.

Yeah, you could say that life was "Grand" for 19 year-old Samuel Howard at the moment as he fiddled with the busted heater in his apartment. He had woken up around to what he guessed was 9 o'clock since apparently the power had decided to go out sometime the night before, to bone chilling cold in nothing but a white t-shirt and a pair of boxers. Well…bad enough that he could easily see his breath at least. Being the resourceful type, he went to investigate the problem solve it quickly so he wouldn't freeze. Well sufficient to say, the problem was harder to solve than he anticipated and found himself poking around the various wires and sensors with nothing to show for it.

"FUCK IT! I'LL PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!" Sam cursed loudly as he stomped to his room and violently opening his closet door. He perused his clothing selections and picked out his outfit for the day, which consisted of a pair of light blue jeans with a brown belt, black long-sleeve shirt, and his favorite jacket, a red leather jacket that resembled one of his favorite video game character's own.

Even with his taste in clothing, the teen could be described as an average young man. Short brown hair long enough to be styled, though he never really did, and a somewhat built body, the occasional run here and gym session there. The only downside to him, and to Sam's malcontent, was that he was a little on the short side, and boy did his friends rip on him for it. He always came back with the age old "Big things come in small packages" defense though.

"I'm soooo glad that I shelled out the dough to make this sexy beast!" Sam did a quick "Manly" pose, exited his room and went back to the living room. He looked at the wristwatch on small stand next to the couch and saw that it had passed noon. "_Cool time for lunch,_" Sam thought happily as he hastily put on his black and white canvas shoes.

He grabbed his keys and rushed out the door, taking care not to slam it. The hinges on that old thing were only held in place by some wire, a few well-placed nails, and a slinky toy.

"_Note to self…get new door," _That idea brought up another._ "Also, no more frat inspired parties here either. I don't want to wake up with my furniture arranged in a pyramid again._" How his friends were able to use his refrigerator to make the tip of their ram shamble icon, he'll never know.

Shaking his head of what he could actually remember from that night, Sam trotted down the stairs to his black Ford Fusion and hopped into the driver's seat. "Come on buddy, it's time to go get something to eat!" Placing the key in the ignition and giving it a turn, the engine roared to life, as if to agree with what Sam had just said. He pulled out the parking lot and cruised down the road, taking note that both his parking lot and the road were both empty. "_Huh…that's kinda weird. Usually there's some sort of traffic right now on the streets._" Sam thought as he came to a stop at a red light. Glancing up at the sky he noticed that it was a grey overcast. "_Hmm...must be the reason that no one is out._" He shrugged his shoulders, idly turning on the radio to some random rock station and continuing the drive into town. As he was driving down the highway, the roads were almost deserted like back at his apartment.

This struck Sam as **very **weird. Things should be busy since it was lunch. He checked the clock on the dash to confirm himself and frowned at this. Was there something he missed this morning? He hadn't checked the TV the whole time he had woken up, so he hadn't seen the news. Maybe there was something huge going on in the town? Or maybe there was some big road construction that everyone was trying to avoid? Sam pondered on these thoughts, but was soon stopped as his stomach growled and broke him out of his train of thought

He patted his stomach and gave a small chuckle. "Don't worry old chum, we're almost there." Sam's stomach seemed to lighten up in response to his words.

He was soon near the outskirts of the city and yet, he still had seen no signs of life anywhere. This started to unnerve him. Had something bad happened? Sam glanced out his window to check out the surrounds, his usual tendency when he stared to get nervous. A field of grass stretched out of the suburban area, beginning to turn brown from the fall weather.

Soon, to his relief, he saw the familiar flashing of red and blue lights of a police car up ahead in the distance at an intersection. He stopped at the stop sign and used this chance to see what had happened. A car had run off the road into a ditch and overturned. It looked like it was pretty beat-up, with glass scattered all over the place and the hood crumpled down. A police officer was kneeled beside what Sam assumed was the driver side of vehicle trying to help whoever was trapped inside.

"_I hope no one was hurt._" Sam gave his silent condolences and continued his drive, not wanting to be a distraction to the policeman there. This accident did nothing but fuel his paranoia anyway.

Sam kept his eyes straight on the road. The city wasn't far away.

**City. 1:25 P.M.  
**

Sam was relieved further when he finally saw some signs of civilization as he arrived into the city. The city was seemed sluggish today though as the various people and cars went by. Sam contributed it to the groggy feeling day and thought nothing more of it. The teen drove on until he found the diner that he frequented ever since his friend had showed it to his two months ago. Sam noticed that the diner was practically deserted save for a couple of cars which he believed belonged to the owners.

Pulling into the lot, Sam got out and headed into the restaurant. His deduction was right, the diner was empty, but that didn't faze him. He was hungry dammit! So he took a seat at the bar and gave a little whistle to the young woman in front.

"Hey Eileen, how's your day been my beautiful rosebud?" He asked with a devious smile. He always had a soft spot for the 24 year old blond-headed waitress.

The woman, Eileen, turned around and gave a big smile to the brunette. "Hey Sammy!" She reached over the counter and gave Sam a quick hug. "What brings you around here?" The teen pointed to the clock on the wall, to which Eileen rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh…lunch time is it? When are you gonna get you a girlfriend that will cook for you, or better yet, why don't you learn yourself?" Eileen asked as she cleaned the counter.

"Well let's see, I would ask you out, but I prefer to have my food not poisoned by your husband back there." Sam mentioned to the kitchen where a tall man with short dirty blonde hair was busy washing the kitchen ware. "I heard that pipsqueak" He said without lifting his head.

Sam gave small chuckle and waved him off. "Easy Mickey! You know I don't mean any harm. In fact, take pride that you have such a beautiful wife!"

"Oh, trust me buddy I do, I just get tired of you hitting on her every time you come in here!" Mickey glanced up for a second and gave Sam the stink-eye.

Eileen stepped in-between the two. "Okay you two, enough with the pissing contest. You're scaring away the customers." She said jokingly. The place didn't have a single soul except for the three of them.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Alright. I'm hungry right now anyway. I'll have the usual. Okay?" Sam turned his head, looking outside the diner window and saw a small culmination of people in an alley way across the street. It seemed like they all culminating around this one person in the middle, who looked like he or she was trying to fight them off. Sam turned his head slightly, looking for Eileen. "Hey Eileen what do you think's goin' on over there?" Sam said, motioning toward the window.

Eileen walked over to Sam and followed his hand. "I don't see anything honey." Sam looked back outside into the alley and saw that the group of people was gone. "I..uh…nevermind," Sam waved his hand, "I guess I was imagining things."

The teen furrowed his brow. Did he just imagine those people? Sam kept staring at the alley, hoping it would maybe answer his question, but he was soon startled out of his trance as he felt someone tap on his shoulder.

Sam turned around in his seat to see one of his oldest friends standing behind him. "Christopher you bastard! How have you been man? I haven't seen you for a while!" Sam said delighted.

Christopher Mathers, a well-toned man with a five o'clock shadow, short slicked back hair, and a set of piercing wine colored eyes. To Sam's dismay, he also stood a full head above him. He dressed like a man with style, white suit jacket with a black dress shirt under, a pair of white slacks, and a pair of high dollar dress shoes.

Chris gave a lopsided grin as he took the seat next to Sam. "I've been good man, been up north on business." Chris gave a small chuckle as he looked at Sam's clothes. "I see that you're still as nerdy as you were in high school."

Sam gave a small huff as he tenderly rubbed his jacket. "Hey man, I take pride in my…referencing of the gamer culture."

"Whatever floats your boat man." Chris said as he rolled his eyes. "But if it's any consolation, it suits you man."

Samuel smiled. "Thank you. Maybe now my self-confidence won't plummet today then!"

They both shared a laugh just as Eileen came with their food. "Here you go boys!" The two thanked her and began to dig into their meals, making small talk with each other. Time passed by fast as the two ate and soon before they knew it 2 hours had passed, their food long consumed. Sam leaned over to the side and popped his back, relieving his stiffness in his joints, while Christopher took out his wallet and placed a single twenty dollar bill in the counter.

Sam saw this and spoke up, "No, no, no, you don't have to pay for me man."

Chris raised his hand to stop Sam. "It's the least I could after seeing you after such a long time," he said with a smile.

Samuel didn't protest anymore and just gave a happy sigh. "Well at the very least let me waste your time since you're back in town. How about a joyride round town for old times' sake?"

Chris leaned back on the counter with his arms crossed, and gave a devilish smile. "You always know how to tempt me into things don't you!"

Sam gave an approving nod. "Alrighty then! Let's go paint the town red!" He turned around to counter, "Eileen, Mickey, you two have a nice day ok. I'll see you guys later." They waved goodbye to Sam and Chris, and with that the two headed out the door.

As soon as Chris saw Sam's car he stopped dead in his tracks and began to look it over with a fine tooth comb.

Sam looked at Chris with a raised eyebrow. "Do I need to give you its full medical history?"

"Nah….I can already tell that it has VD." Chris said without missing a beat as he felt the curvature of the car.

"Ha, Ha, Ha…no molesting the car." He said in deadpan. "Don't make me get the rolled up newspaper. I swear you're like a dog without a bone when it comes to cars."

"You know I make my living on cars." Chris said with pride. "Also, you would know all about getting hit with rolled up newspapers wouldn't you squirt." He ended with a chuckle.

"Hey I rese-Huh?" Sam's attention was lured to the sound of blaring sirens. He watched as he watched a police car burn rubber down the road. "_Huh…that interesting._"

"Must be some type of some type of high speed chase going on down that way." Chris said as the sound of sirens filled the air.

Sam frowned and shook his head, "Come on man, let's go. We don't need to worry about that." Chris shrugged his shoulders and walked back to the car with Sam.

Plopping down in the driver's seat, the teen turned the car on and let it idle for a minute to get the heat circulating throughout car. Chris was too busy checking out the car to carry a conversation and Sam got bored easily, so he decided to give the atmosphere a little music. He turned the radio to the rock station that he listened to on his drive to the dinner. He turned the volume up only to hear the emergency broadcast alarm going off. "_Bah…Damn emergency tests. So annoying!_" Sam flipped it to another station while putting the car into drive and, to his surprise, was greeted with the same sound. This intrigued Sam. He turned it to another station and lo and behold it was the same thing! Chris had now noticed this and joined Sam in listening to half listening to the broadcast. Sam had pulled up to the exit before he and Chris decided to actually listen to the broadcast, but this was cut short as the two heard the most horrendous sound of metal on metal contact they ever heard before, sounding like they were in the middle of a junkyard with metal screeching and crunching. The two snapped their heads to the right and saw that the police barricade that was down the road had been completely destroyed and that a huge flaming fuel tanker was speeding down the road right at them.

Sam barely had time to get the car into reverse before the tanker nearly run them over like a pancake. Sam stomped on the brake as hard as he could and the car came to a squealing halt as Sam tried to calm his heart before he had a heart attack.

"What the fuck was that about?!" Sam shouted as Mickey and Eileen rushed out of the dinner to see what was going on.

hen without time for pause, the tanker veered wildly to the left and rammed through a store front, decimating and more than likely killing all those inside. Sam and Chris saw the flames grow even more intense. The teen knew that this was bad and the growing pit in his stomach didn't help things, and he soon started to panic. He threw the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot trying to get as far away from the tanker, not even bothering to see if Mickey and Eileen made it safety. He quickly thanked that the roads were clear put the pedal to the metal, trying to milk all the horsepower out of his vehicle.

rode on for a couple of minutes until he hit an empty suburban road, but he soon couldn't take it anymore and pulled over to the side of the road and rushed out of his car, feeling vomit in his throat. He was soon on his knees as his lunch came up and onto the ground.

Chris rushed over to check on him. "Hey you alrigh-" Chris stopped dead in midsentence. Sam lifted his head to see what had stopped him and as soon as he did, the blood ran cold in his veins. The city had become dark silhouette of itself as bright orange fire lit the dull sky above, with smoke billowing up into the air.

To say Sam was scared would be an understatement. He was terrified beyond belief.

"What the hell is going on man?! Everything is goin' to shit fast!" Chris yelled out, putting his hands on his head.

Sam wiped his mouth as he rose to his feet shakily. "I don't know man. I…honestly don't know. Things went to shit so quick that neither of us could understand what was going on." Sam didn't know why he said that. Maybe part of it was true, maybe he said it to make himself feel a little better about what was going on, making it seem like it was just a horrible dream, but the very real events replaying over and over again in his mind were burned deep into his psyche. Sam turned away from the sight and walked back to his car, leaning against the hood of his car.

Chris soon joined him and with gave a heavy sigh, "What do we do now man?"

Sam wanted to answer that question. Hell, he was the one all his friends came to when they needed answers, but right now…he had none. He buried his face in his hands as he felt the cold wind blow through him.

Chris took the hint and walked off toward the back of the car and sat on the trunk. He rubbed his temples trying to think of his and Sam's next move. After a moment of intense thinking, he was stumped. Chris had no idea on what to do. He was a doer, not a thinker. He gritted his teeth as he failed to compile his thoughts.

Giving an angry sigh, Chris hopped off the trunk of the car. Maybe walking around a bit would help?

Chris walked down a bit from the car and soon saw a police car about half a mile down the road next to wrecked car. He glanced over his shoulder and shouted to Sam, "Hey come back here! There's a police cruiser down the road!"

Sam lifted his head. A policeman would be able to give info on what's going on. Sam jogged to the back of the car and joined up with Chris. The two of them began walking down the road, no sense in wasting gas in this short of a walk.

When pair came upon the scene, Sam finally got a good look the cruiser and the wreck beside it and had a sense of déjà vu. Hadn't he seen this sometime before? He glanced at his surroundings and saw that this was the same wreck that he saw when he had passed through earlier on his way to town!

"_Why is the same police car still here and why is the wreck still here? Surely they would have hauled this away hours ago._" Sam kept his suspicion to himself as they walked up to the car, seeing that the lights were still blinking, but no one was there.

"Hey man let's spilt up and see if we can find anyone," said Sam as he peered into the window of the cop car. "I'll look over here at the cars, you go check out those houses down the road, see if you can find anyone out there."

Chris nodded his head and began walking down the road.

**Chris  
**

It was a small suburban area, only about 10 houses, called Sunnyvale. Christopher never liked these types of places. Too close to other people. He liked to have his personal space and privacy from prying eyes, especially with his type of job. Plus being a community like this means that it was filled with rich white people who had nothing better to do but show off their money. It annoyed Chris to no end, but this wasn't the time to bet blame the white man. He needed their help now.

He walked into the cul-de-sac and headed to the nearest house, a two-story house and garage combo, the typical cardboard cutout house. He walked up to the front door and knocked on it, waiting for a few seconds before giving another knock when no came to. Chris was soon losing his patience though when there was still no answer at the door. "_Screw it. I'll hit up the next house._"

Chris walked down the steps and started to head to the next house over, but was soon stopped. "_Wait…what was that?_" He turned back to the house and leaned his ear toward the house. There was only silence as Christopher tried to listen for even the smallest of squeaks.

Nothing came out of the house. "_Bah, I'm just imagining things. Onto the next house._" Chris began to walk to the next house again, but was stopped as a huge crash came from garage. He slowly walked over to the garage and peeked through the small window to look inside, and was greeted with a horrid sight. Blood was splashed on the wall and floor as a woman lay on the floor, huge chunks of her flesh missing. Chris pounded on the garage door, trying to see if the woman was still alive. Chris started to lift the door, but was stopped when he heard what sounded like feet shuffling from inside. He put the door down and peered into the window one more time, this time seeing a man standing inside, his back turned to Chris. Chris began beating on the door again to get the attention of the man. This worked as the man's head perked up and slowly turned around to face Chris.

Chris sensed something was wrong, he took a closer look at the man and saw that his skin was a sickly shade of gray. The man had now fully turned around to Chris and the image before him made his stomach turn. The man was drenched with blood as deep gashes ran across his chest and chunks were missing from his body. The man was missing the skin on the left half of his face, showing an open eye socket and the underlying muscle around his mouth. The "man", if you could call him that anymore, saw Chris and gave out a low guttural moan and began to shuffle to him.

"What the fuck?!" Chris yelled out as the thing began to scratch at the door, trying to get to him. Chris backed up, his hand over his mouth, shell-shocked at the events before him. Chris kept walking backward until he unexpectedly bumped into something. He turned around and found another thing was blocking his path.

This one was missing its lips, allowing the full view of his teeth, broken, jagged, and covered in blood. The thing grabbed Chris and pushed him to the ground, biting viciously like a rabid dog. Chris fought to keep the thing from making him his next meal, using his left hand to grab the thing by the neck while trying to free his trapped right hand from under the thing's torso. He was fighting a losing battle as the thing thrashed against him, his hands scratching for Chris's chest and inching his way closer to his neck, warm blood dripping down from its teeth onto Chris's cheek.

Chris was able to plant his feet on the thing's torso pushed with all his might, sending the thing reeling back onto its back. Chris took this opening and scrambled backwards. The thing didn't seem to respond to the kick much and soon came back at Chris with full force. Chris quickly looked for something to defend himself with and saw a steel stake in the ground beside him. Chris quickly rose to his feet and dashed to the metal, bringing it just in time to meet the full force of the thing head on. Chris was able to easily dodge the awkward tackle from the thing and send it onto the ground. He planted his foot on the back of the thing and flung the stake forward. He made contact into the thing's skull and with a sickening "**crunch**", the stake lodging itself into the brain of the thing, sending a spray of blood onto the grass and Chris's jacket.

This time the "man" did not get back up.

Chris took this moment to savor his victory. "YEAH! FUCK YOU! I'M STILL ALIVE YOU BITCH!" He yelled to the dead body, huffing out as the last bit of adrenaline left his body. He wiped the sweat from his head and poked at the corpse. "_What the hell is this guy? He's definitely not human. Don't tell me it's what I think it is…"_

Chris's thoughts were stopped as he heard a distant scream and the sound of a gunshot. He snapped his head back and saw that it was in the direction that he left his friend. "_No__!_" Chris began running full speed back to the cars.

"SAM! I'M COMING FOR YA!"

**Sam  
**

Samuel watched as Chris headed down the road. He knew that if nobody was here, there was sure to be people down there. Once Chris was out of sight, he turned his attention back to the cars. "Hello…Anyone here?" Sam sounded out, but to no answer. He frowned and walked around to the back of the police car. He looked out into the field of grass on the other side of the road and saw a whole lot of nothing. "What the hell…" Sam scratched his head, "Cops usually don't abandon their cars, especially when it's still operational." He went back to the front of the car and opened the driver side door.

He gave a sigh. "I might get into trouble for this, but it's better than just sitting here." Sam turned on the police radio listened intently.

"**Calling all cars. Calling all cars. This is dispatch. This is an emergency. The United States National Guard has been dispatched. There mass disturbances all over the state of Mississippi. Casualties are high and all units are ordered to save as many people as you can. There are many hostiles. Shoot to kill. Aim for the head, it is the only way to take the hostiles down. Repeat. Aim for the head, it is the ONLY way to take down the hostiles. Avoid all hospitals and report to the airport for further instruction."**

Sam sat there dumbfounded. Things were going to hell on a major scale. All over the state? Was this some sort of terrorist attack? Did she just say aim for the head? So many questions ran through Sam's head, but there was too many things pointing to one direction in Sam's head.

This was Z-day.

From the sound of it, the dead had risen back to life and now are killing people all over the country. "_How could this happen so fast? An attack this large can't just pop out of nowhere_!" Sam shook his head. "_This isn't the time to wonder how. I need to get Chris and…." _Samuel's thoughts tapered off. "My family," he whispered out. His eyes went wide as he tried to pull his phone out if his pocket, quickly searching for his mother's number. Once he found it, he pounded on it to dial. He held the phone to his ear but was greeted with the sound of a dial tone. He looked at his phone and saw that he had no service. "FUCK!" he screamed out in rage. He had to go home and see if his family made it out alright.

He jumped out of the car and was quickly tripped by something grabbing his ankle. The back of Sam's skull made contact with the pavement and sent his world into a painful haze. His vision quickly returned to him and he looked down at what had tripped him.

It was a woman, more specifically, an undead woman. Her face was mutilated with deep cuts, blood covered her entire face. The bone in her leg had pierced through the skin and was dragging on the ground as she dug her nails into Sam's flesh, trying to crawl her way up to him.

Sam screamed out a cursed as he kicked the zombified woman in the face. The zombie was stunned and let its death grip on Sam's leg go, allowing him to scoot away from it. The zombie quickly recovered and was crawling toward Sam, wanting to have him as its next meal. Sam kept backing up until he felt metal hit his back, the wrecked car preventing Sam's escape. He looked around him to find something to defend himself and soon felt the crunch of glass from under him.

Sam looked behind himself and saw a huge piece of jagged glass sticking from the window of the car. The teen grabbed the glass, feeling it cut into his flesh, and ripped it out from its hold. Sam turned to see the zombie try to fling its self onto Sam's leg. He quickly scrambled to his feet, dodging the attack and causing the zombie fall onto its face. Sam looked down at the squirming zombie with a pit in his stomach.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and kicked the zombie into its back. With one swift motion, Sam sent the glass into the zombie's eye socket, causing it to go limp.

He had killed his first zombie. Hell, it was his first at killing anything.

Sam picked himself up and looked at the grizzly scene, staring at the blood that began to pool around the woman. It made him sick to his stomach, but now wasn't the time to be weak. He need to get him and his friend out of here, find his family, and get to safety.

Sam stepped forward and tried shouting out to Chris, but was stopped when he felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders. Samuel spun around and was face to face with the missing policeman, now zombified.

The two struggled for control. Sam grabbed the zombie, pushing him back and holding him at arm-length. The zombie bit viciously toward Sam, and with its unrestrained strength, it was gaining the advantage. Sam quickly shoved the zombie on its back and rushed to the cruiser, looking for something to defend himself with. He opened the glove box and saw a Beretta 92 pistol inside. Quickly, he pulled the gun out and turned to see the zombie dive down into the cruiser with him.

Sam struggled with the nightmarish being for what seemed like forever, screaming out to anyone to come and help him. The adrenaline from the previous fight had started to wear off, and was soon becoming replaced with fatigue. He was tiring out as the thing thrashed against his grip, his arms starting to cramp and weaken.

Then the worst possibility happened.

Sam's grip slipped from around the zombie's neck and it quickly took advantage this opening.

Its head dove down and sunk its teeth into the teen's left forearm.

The teen screamed out in pain as blood rushed down his arm. He gritted his teeth and haphazardly raised the gun to the temple of the zombie and pulled the trigger, sending blood and brain matter onto the roof of the cruiser. Sam pried the now dead zombie off his arm, throwing it onto the ground.

The brunette stared with wild eyes as he gingerly touched the wound on his arm, he didn't know whether this was a death sentence or not. He had read various things on the zombie apocalypse and all said that once bitten you might consider yourself dead...

**Present Time. 3:20 P.M.**

Chris had finally made it close to see Sam standing by two dead bodies. "SAM! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Chris shouted

Sam snapped his head to the right and saw Chris running toward him. His looked at his wound and decided to quickly hide it under his jacket sleeve. He looked back to Chris who had finally made his way up to him. "Yeah…I'm fine. I got attacked and I defended myself."

Sam saw the blood splatter on Chris's clothes and on his hand and deduced he had killed as well.

"Have you found out anything? Cause I have a crazy ass idea about what's happening." Chris said as he tried to get his breath back from his run.

"Yeah it's exactly as it seems," the teen said solemnly. "The undead roam the earth. Zombies….are real…" Sam said as he looked to the dead bodies.

This really didn't make Chris feel good. "Who would've thought that of all the things to happen in our life time, fuckin' zombies would be one of them?" He turned back to the still flaming city. "…How bad is it?"

Sam turned his gaze to the grey sky as he gave the grave news. "The whole state has been hit, I'm pretty sure that an attack like this is country wide too." Sam gave a ragged breath. "We are majorly fucked right now man."

Chris's face cycled from sadness to anger to one of sheer terror, before looking back to Sam. "What do we do now?"

"I need to find my family man. I need to make sure they're alright…" Sam said with as he turned his back to Chris.

Chris gazed down at the ground and closed his eyes for a moment, making a judgment call. Should he just leave his friend like that? This was a hellish dog eat dog world they were beginning to enter and if something slowed them down, it could spell death for the both of them. On the other hand though, Sam helped him through one of his darkest moments….

Chris lifted his head back up to see his friend's back and felt a grin tug at the corners of his mouth. He knew his decision.

He walked up to Sam and gave him a pat on the back. "Then we'll find them man. We'll make sure they're safe."

Sam glanced over to Chris and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah….we will," Sam said, determination starting to grow on his face.

He began to walk down the road to his car. "Come on. We got people to save."

Chris gave a small smile and started walked alongside Sam.

"_Don't worry guys I coming for you." _Sam looked down at where he was bit.

"_Even if it kills me."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Holy Gandhi's Tits Batman! That was quite eventful for a first chapter huh?

*Cricket chirp*

*sigh* Can't win'em all can we?

I added that speech check at the beginning to prevent any confusion with the way things are said and how they are said. I'm sure you all should know that by now, but I'm trying to be as cautious as I can, cover all my bases as they say. This will however be the **only **time that I will do so though. I may be nice, but I won't do the same thing over and over again if you already know it by then.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the beginning of the zombie apocalypse with me!

Please R&R my friends! I hope to see you in the next chapter!

WW.


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